Byron Young came into the NFL as a rocked-up edge rusher with a ton of power in his 6-foot-2 frame. As a 25-year-old rookie, it wasn’t surprising to see him with the frame of an NFL veteran, but he’s not done adding weight.
Young told Stu Jackson of the Rams’ official site that he’s up nearly 10 pounds already this offseason after playing at 250 pounds last season, yet he doesn’t feel any slower with the added weight. In fact, he feels like he’s gotten faster, as well as being stronger.
“Feels great,” Young said Tuesday. “I feel like I got faster with it, because I felt like I would get slower a little bit, I definitely sped up a little bit.”
Young was more of a speed rusher than a power guy last season, which was the case at Tennessee, as well. That’s not to say he doesn’t have the strength to bull rush tackles into the laps of quarterbacks, but he wins with speed and bend around the edge.
Now that he’s bulked up and added some muscle, Young can be a better blend of speed and power, which he’s excited about.
“It’s good to be bigger and fast,” Young said. “They wanted me to see if I get to this weight and see if I could play with that, see if I could sustain that and that’s what I’m doing right now. It feels great. Getting close to up to 260, so it’s good, and I don’t look bad. That’s one thing that I would worry about – I didn’t want to get the weight and then not look great. But it’s definitely something that helps me with the run game, pass game, setting the edge and all of that, for sure.”
Young is already on a great trajectory as a pro after recording eight sacks in 2023, which were tied for second on the team with Aaron Donald. He obviously has room to improve and he hopes the added weight will help take his game to the next level.
It’s reasonable to think that opposite Jared Verse, he could surpass 10 sacks in 2024 and add to the 19 quarterback hits he had as a rookie last season.